iciently strong for their
purpose. They now set out on their icy turnpike, and got on well enough,
excepting that now and then a horse would sidle out of the track, and
immediately sink up to the neck. Then came on toil and difficulty, and
they would be obliged to haul up the floundering animal with ropes. One,
more unlucky than the rest, after repeated falls, had to be abandoned in
the snow. Notwithstanding these repeated delays, they succeeded, before
the sun had acquired sufficient power to thaw the snow, in getting all
the rest of their horses safely to the other side of the mountain.

Their difficulties and dangers, however, were not yet at an end. They
had now to descend, and the whole surface of the snow was glazed with
ice. It was necessary; therefore, to wait until the warmth of the sun
should melt the glassy crust of sleet, and give them a foothold in
the yielding snow. They had a frightful warning of the danger of
any movement while the sleet remained. A wild young mare, in her
restlessness, strayed to the edge of a declivity. One slip was fatal
to her; she lost her balance, careered with headlong velocity down the
slippery side of the mountain for more than two thousand feet, and was
dashed to pieces at the bottom. When the travellers afterward sought
the carcass to cut it up for food, they found it torn and mangled in the
most horrible manner.

It was quite late in the evening before the party descended to the
ultimate skirts of the snow. Here they planted large logs below them
to prevent their sliding down, and encamped for the night. The next day
they succeeded in bringing down their baggage to the encampment; then
packing all up regularly, and loading their horses, they once more
set out briskly and cheerfully, and in the course of the following day
succeeded in getting to a grassy region.

Here their Nez Perce guides declared that all the difficulties of the
mountains were at an end, and their course was plain and simple, and
needed no further guidance; they asked leave, therefore, to return
home. This was readily granted, with many thanks and presents for their
faithful services. They took a long farewell smoke with their white
friends, after which they mounted their horses and set off, exchanging
many farewells and kind wishes.

On the following day, Captain Bonneville completed his journey down the
mountain, and encamped on the borders of Snake River, where he found
the grass in great abundance a